Pokemon: Bone and Blood
by TokjirMarin
Summary: The dream of nearly every child is to become a Pokémon trainer; traveling the world, battling Pokémon, seeing new creatures, becoming a Gym Leader, or aiming to become a Pokemon master and making their families proud. But dreams are nothing compared to the harsh realities of life, something I learned far too soon.
1. Blood and Bone

Chapter 1  
A Mareep in Zoroark's clothing.

Cain awoke alone with a start from his fitful sleep, his face covered in a sheen of cold sweat, his heart pounding out of his chest as his mind raced, visions of blood and feathers fading slowly from his mind as he slowed his panicked breaths and collected himself, in the distance the sound of loud cawing Murkrows brought him back down, these creatures were likely telling of a meal, dead and ready to devour. A cool breeze blew through the leaves, chilling the already cold sweat that lay across his face telling him that he had survived another night.

It had been 15 long long years since he had begun his journey, leaving his home under the blessing and guidance of his parents, excited to watch him begin his first steps into the world with his Torchic, "Daisy," by his side. He shook off the dusty old memories and began packing up his few belongings into his backpack opting to hold off on breakfast until he could hunt something down. It felt like a lifetime since he had gone back home, whatever was left of it.

Cain stood up groaning as began to clear his camp, packing away everything that he owned before heading off into the forest to hunt down breakfast.

He took one last look back at his camp, more memories were kicked up like dust and embers from a dying flame, he shook his head and headed off before a rustle in the bushes drew his attention scattering the thoughts that had begun to cloud his mind like a fog, quickly he dropped low to the ground and like a predator began to track the source of the sound, slowly creeping through the undergrowth as he slowly unsheathed his hunting knife, his eyes moving swiftly as he looked for what made the sound before something came shooting out from the brush and smashed into the side of his head, leaving him dazed and knocked to the ground. "Urg what was that..?" He asked himself before it came flying at him once again however he raised his arm just barely managing to knock it aside with a metallic clatter and saw what had struck him. A short distance away he saw a heavily used bone club, chipped and stained with dried blood now lodged amidst roots before a small pokemon emerged from the brush with a fierce growl, the filthy skull adorning its head cracked and broken open, brutal claw marks marring its face with a set of deep scars underscoring a painfully glazed over eye.

The small Cubone stared determinedly at him casting a glance toward its bone club, he could feel an aura of fear radiating off of the small creature as it stared at him and his large knife, he sat and watched it just as they watched him. After a few moments the Cubone took a chance and rushed for the club but found that it was stuck fast under intertwining roots, the determined look on its face faltered for a moment before it turned around to face him and stood ready to attack him if he tried to get near, Cain slid his knife into its sheath on his hip but stayed low to the ground even as he got back to his feet a bit, his ratty coat had a gash in it where the club had struck him revealing silvery metal underneath, he glanced from the creature to their bone club before holding up his arm, his sleeve falling to reveal his metallic forearm leading up to a gloved hand.

"Heh, stuck? Serves you right for attacking something so much bigger than you." Cain spoke quietly with a smirk of superiority before wiping some blood from his face as it was starting to trickle down his cheek "You did get me good. I will admit that.." He said as he looked over this small damaged creature, taking his time looking over the creature more actively; Thin, shaking, had to be at least a month old if not less, difficult to tell with how malnourished they were. Part of him felt bad for them, more memories being stirred up as he thought of himself at his lowest point, how fearful he was for where his next meal would come from and if he would find kindness. With a soft sigh he set his pack down, causing the young pokemon to take a step back fearfully almost deciding if they should stand their ground or run away, Cain began digging around in his pack and pulled out a handful of berries that he had gathered, he extended his hand with the berries and spoke softly to the Cubone "Hey, you're hungry aren't you? If you want you can have these." before laying the berries on a clear patch of ground and began to step back, just watching them as they stared cautiously looking back to the bush they ran out from before very slowly starting to crawl over and snatching up a berry and quickly retreating back to the trapped club to eat it.

He couldn't help but feel a familiar twinge of emotion as he watched the small Pokemon eating so quickly, with a sigh he shook away those thoughts and saw the Cubone approaching again to snatch another berry but froze in place just staring at him. "Eat up, you need your strength if you're gonna survive out here. Looks like you're barely surviving out here by yourself as it is.." He shook his head a little and returned to watching the Cubone scarfing down the berries making a mess of their masked face before looking around expectantly for more and turning to look up at him, "You ate them all, there's no more, at least not for now there isn't. I haven't got a pokeball to catch you with, not that it matters to you, not like you'd want a failed trainer like me caring for you."

His eyes moved slowly from the Cubone to their club before he stood up and calmly walked past them causing them to retreat in fear back to their bush to watch in confusion as he knelt and began pulling at the roots and vines that had securely trapped the club in their grasp, slowly working the bone back and forth before giving a solid yank and tugging it free. When he turned around the Cubone was nowhere to be found but what he did find was that his pack had fallen to the ground, now laying on its side. "Must have knocked it over when they took off." He thought quietly as he walked back over to right the pack but when he reached it he was met with the sight of a tan and brown bottom sticking out of the top of his rustling bag.

"..." He moved very slowly before pouncing on the bag grabbing both it and the mischievous pokemon scaring them into wriggling farther into the pack before spinning around and poking their head out of the top, staring into his eyes before starting to chew quickly, eating the very last of his prepared rations.

"Really..? Are you absolutely for real right now?" Cain let out a heavy sigh before looking at the pokemon again "You're lucky I was going to go hunting and that I didn't decide to eat you this time." He poked the malnourished but happy little ones tummy and they gave a happy smile and exclaimed "Cubone!" after finishing their stolen meal, he shook his head and gave back the bone club and stood up with the pack, carefully putting it back on with his new companion peering out at the forest around them from their new vantage point safe and happy in his pack.

He spent the next few hours hunting through the forest, different Pokemon just barely managing to escape his traps and his grasp. The sun passed overhead just as quickly as the earth beneath his feet, his new companion eventually falling asleep in his pack nestled against his back and his supplies. As night would begin to fall he came across a river by a tall waterfall, full of fish swimming by as he began to put together his old fishing rod and set about trying to catch something while getting a fire started and his pack set down waking his new friend from their peaceful slumber.

"Hey, you awake now? Maybe you can be useful and club something out of the water to make up for what you ate." Cain said as he stepped back over to the water's edge and took a seat, watching the fish take passing interest in his hook before swimming off. Sleepily Cubone would crawl out from the pack over to his side dragging their club behind them making a small divot in the dirt behind them. "Don't worry about it I guess..you're still too tired, I got this." He said softly as he reeled his rod and cast it out again, staring out at the crystal like surface of the water, the stars shining so beautifully across it looking as if someone had cast diamonds and pearls just beneath the surface.

He cast out and reeled in time and time again, minutes passing by him and exhaustion from the day starting to tug at him before he felt a tug on his line, he was shocked awake began to reel in the fish, finding it a harder task than he had anticipated.

"How the hell are you so strong?" He asked growling as he fought to reel it in before a splash sounded as the water was broken by a sudden impact and the line went limp, he quickly began to reel it in to see if somehow the fish had gotten free but was pleasantly surprised to see a quite plump magikarp stuck on his hook, its eye damaged and leaking blue blood down its orange scales, seeing this his gaze shifted to his companion who was missing their bone club which was floating on the surface of the water a good distance away.

"I guess you can stay." He sighed and said with a bit of pride in the small creature who piped up happily. "Don't eat this, I'm going to get your club back, I don't need you drowning on me." Cain said as he got the Magikarp quickly dispatched and gutted before spearing it on a sharpened stick and started cooking. He got undressed, leaving his clothes as well as his prosthetic arm by his pack before diving into the chill water, looking around at his moonlit surroundings before retrieving the lost club, swimming past many different fish on his way to and back before he pulled himself back onto the land albeit with a bit of difficulty. He expected to see the Cubone munching away at the Magikarp but surprisingly didn't see them by the fire, instead finding them sniffing curiously at the length of metal resting atop the pile of clothing.

"Hey, that's not food." He called out coming over dripping wet and holding the bone club, he gently nudged the little one away from his prosthetic before kneeling and giving back the item. "Come on, I'm freezing and I'm sure the actual food is nearly done." He made his way back over to the fire to warm up and dry off, taking the time to turn over the fish before his companion pulled themselves away and came over to sit, staring openly at the missing limb.

"I got into a fight." He spoke up after a minute, water silently dripping off of his hair as the little one looked at him, "Worst fight I've ever been in. I got caught up fighting someone and I guess neither of us realized that the noise of the battle was drawing attention from the forest nearby, before either of us knew it.. a hyper beam came flying out of the woods...behind that was a pissed off Tyranitar, from the looks of it we must have hit the damn thing with a stray blast...she returned the favor by.." Cain paused, moving his shoulder a bit to emphasise his statement. "She blew off my arm, nearly caved in the other guys chest...Lucky for us a ranger showed up, fought it off and got us help but...obviously I came out the loser of that fight."

Cubone seemed to be listening intently, reaching and touching the scars over their damaged eye before letting out a sad "Cu.." as if trying to say that they understood in some way or another. Cain got up from his seat and retrieved his limb, re-attaching it before taking his spot by the fire again to get warmed up and dried off as pulled the Magikarp off the fire and cut it in half so they could eat together.

He sighed softly and blew on his to cool it down and began eating before he felt pressure in his lap and looked down to see the Cubone scrambling up and into his lap before sitting on his crossed legs and starting to eat their meal. A soft smile tugged at the corners of his lips before he returned to his meal. The rest of the night was spent setting up his bedding and drifting off to sleep alongside his new companion, his dreams still plagued with nightmares but the comfort of the warm body in his arms helped to drive them away.


	2. Not all that glitters is Goldeen

Chapter 2  
Not all that glitters is Goldeen.

Cain and his newly acquainted Cubone traveled along hiking trails and wooded areas, avoiding major roadways as they made their way along. Eventually they managed to come across a small town, Cain was hesitant to enter but knew that they would need supplies if they were going to keep going, especially with winter fast approaching.

He took a deep shaky breath and pulled his sleeve down to cover his arm before looking back to his Cubone. "Bonnie, I need you to stay here and wait for me, alright? Just...trust me and stay here, okay?" Bonnie looked concerned and tried to protest but crawled into a nearby bush to hide out until her partner returned to her side. With another shaky breath he put his hood up and walked into the small town, looking around at the different buildings but trying his best to avoid the people as he stepped into a small shop and began to look at different items for both people and Pokemon, a small assortment of camping tools and some snacks lined different shelves.

Cain let out a soft sigh as he counted up what he had left on him and grabbed a small hatchet, a couple energy bars, a small canteen, and a package of socks before making his way to the counter where he set his items. "Going camping?" The old man behind the counter asked as he tallied up what he was purchasing. "Yeah. Somethin like that. Just passing through, nothing more." Cain said a bit curt, not wanting to get into a conversation with this old man.

"That so...Can't help but notice you aren't carrying any pokeballs, if you spend a few more pokédollars I can throw in a free premier ball you know? Winter ain't too far'way, might be good to get yerself a nice...new coat." Cain knew the old man was trying to be friendly but couldn't help but feel a bit of an edge to what he was saying.

How long had he been in here now? How long had he been watching him? Long enough to see he didn't have any pokemon on him, long enough to see how filthy his clothing was, the caked dirt on his shoes, the tears in his jacket, too long. "Yea..Just ring me through. I'd like to be on my way." He could feel a glare on his own face at this old man, his piercing stare was rubbing him the wrong way and he wanted to leave "Hmph. If you say so. It's your loss kiddo." The old man rung him up and he dug what little cash he had in his pocket out, just barely covering everything and eliciting a mumbled response from the old man "Surprised you could even pay for this.." Cain glared hatefully now but kept his eyes down and gathered his things before starting to leave "Sir, your change." Cain didn't even look back "Keep it. You obviously need it more than I do." The sliding doors of the store slid shut behind him, the old man's shout at being disrespected getting cut off as he strapped the canteen on his belt loop and slid the hatchet into one of the straps on his backpack as he started walking out of the village, giving a short whistle once he was past the gates "Come on. We're done here." Cain said clearly still angry.

Bonnie leapt from the bush and quickly took her place walking at his side, her once frail weakened body now starting to fill back out as she was eating meals more often now that she had a trainer by her side taking care of her. Cain kept his hood up, breaking off a piece of the energy bar and eating it before feeding Bonnie a piece, even if he was mad at the humans for looking down on him like a piece of trash in the street, he felt that this small creature was literally and figuratively looking up to him for her survival, in a way it made him feel wanted.

Hours passed as he put the memory of the village behind him, lifting Bonnie up onto his backpack again so she could keep a lookout for him as he walked along trails and pathways, changing directions when he heard the voices of other trainers in the distance, he wanted nothing to do with them as much as he knew they wanted nothing to do with him. Eventually they came to the top of a cliff, looking out across the forest which lie ahead of them leading to a wide mountain range. "Damn it...Looks like if we wanna go any further were gonna have to cross those mountains." Bonnie gave a worried look over the edge of the cliff before looking back to her trainer, listening to him before giving a determined nod as if saying that she was ready. "We're gonna have to make camp for tonight, just to be safe." Cain said as he began to make his way down the path, carefully climbing down as Bonnie moved to climb alongside him and he started to gather twigs and leaves to prepare a fire for the night. He made camp by a deep river flowing off the side of the mountain, with the help of Bonnie he caught a rather sizable Goldeen, Bonnie dispatched the creature quickly and looked to Cain for approval, he gave a nod and a small smile to her before getting to work cooking it over their fire.

The embers and smoke drifted silently into the starry sky, wood crackling softly as it burns amongst the stones by the river, Cain stared up into the stars old fears starting to bleed into the corners of his mind, he hadn't known Bonnie all that long yet he felt a growing connection to her but that connection, that closeness, felt like it was struggling through barbed wire and frozen rain. He feared what might happen if another trainer saw her, saw what she looked like at his side, he was afraid that someone might try to take her away from him. Cain looked into the smoldering embers at the base of the fire and let out a heavy sigh "Help me put this out then lets get some sleep, we've got a long day ahead of us." He spoke somewhat coldly now and stood up, he filled his canteen with the freshwater of the river and set to shoring up the bedding as Bonnie used her club to pat out the embers and push the stones in to smother any remaining flames before joining her partner to rest for the night.

Morning came quickly, and with it the dead silence of a sleeping forest. Cain woke first and climbed out of his sleeping bag, gently shaking Bonnie's shoulder to wake her as he began to gather up his supplies and pack everything back into his bag before looking up to the imposing peaks that seemed to loom ever more fiercely above. A chill ran up his spine as he began to feel fears crawling from the bottoms of his feet to the base of his spine, he shook them off and shook Bonnie again "Come on, we gotta get moving." She groaned a complaint but reluctantly stood up, scratching at her belly and sleepily wandering about a bit to attempt to wake herself up before the trip, he rolled the sleeping bag up and secured it to his pack before cutting down a thick branch and carving at it with his hatchet to make a sturdy walking stick.

Once he finished tearing down camp he began walking, zipping his coat up and giving Bonnie a small blanket to keep herself warm as they began trekking up the stoney path, the higher they climbed the colder it got until they began to notice falling snow and the path becoming clouded with fresh powder "Stay close, I don't need to lose you out here." Cain called his pokemon as he pressed forward.

As they trekked along minutes turned to hours and the light snowfall began to turn to blistering winds and a heavy snowstorm, he dug his walking stick into the ground with each step to ensure that next step wouldn't end up his last and kept a careful eye on his companion, making sure that she was keeping bundled tightly and keeping pace with him, Bonnie used her bone club as her own walking stick, digging into the ground to keep from losing her balance as she determinedly pushed herself along trying to make her partner proud. They pressed onward until coming across a cavern and ducking inside, the sound of chirping and chittering pokemon echoed as the winds outside raged fiercely, the visibility outside falling fast to nothing, Cain shook off the snow that clung to him and waited by the entrance for Bonnie to catch up.

It felt like time had slowed to a crawl as he stared at the unrelenting wall of white with no sign of his companion anywhere, he felt as if he had swallowed stones as he shouted into the raging wind, his voice being swallowed whole "Arceus damn it Bonnie.." Cain thought to himself before shouting her name again, the only response was the howling winds, he shucked off his pack and grabbed his walking stick before trudging into the snow to search for her, every so often shouting her name and trying to see through the wall of kicked up powder whenever the wind shifted. He shouted hard and searched harder before he saw a faint glow and a bit of the blanket he had given her to keep herself warm, without thinking he rushed over as quickly as he could but every few steps felt like walking through mud and the snow kept making him lose footing and fall but he kept going until he reached the blanket and saw Bonnie shivering beside a Numel who looked terrified at his approach and began to flare up before Bonnie saw him and calmed the creature "Bonnie? I was worried sick about you! What the hell are you doing out here!?" Cain was furious that she abandoned him in the storm like this, she waved her arms and made noises before pointing at the Numel who still hadn't moved from their spot and kept up their weak ember of a volcanic back "Are they injured?" He asked, still angry but sympathetic, he let out a big sigh and shook his head "Fuck me.. Both of you, get up, I'll get you back to the cave." He moved again to the Numel who tried to thrash but was far too weak to even muster that, he got himself positioned on their other side to push them to their feet as Bonnie assisted in getting them stable before wrapping the blanket tighter around themselves and pressing their way through the snow.

After what felt like hours they reached the mouth of the cave and crawled inside, shivering and exhausted Cain shook snow from himself and looked at Bonnie and her new friend, without the blistering winds clouding his vision he saw large bruises and cuts on the Numels pale skin, a wonder they made it this far on their own from how weak they appeared. He sighed and rifled through his pack grabbing some left over food he had and what little medicine he had left before coming to their side "How do I end up in these situations..?" Cain asked himself more than anything as the Numel ate slowly with Bonnies help and he began to clean and dress the wounds "Jeez.. looks like you took quite the fall...don't imagine you were transporting cargo by chance were you?" The Numel was too weak to give a response but Bonnie shot him as best of a death glare as she could "Hey, it was just a joke." Bonnie returned to her nurse duties, feeding the Numel and wrapping her blanket around his neck so he could keep warm and not singe the fabric.

Cain felt like he was doing something right, raising her on his own like this, when it would have been so easy to choose his own survival over hers, to choose a solitary life over becoming a trainer again. Something about Bonnie just made him want to save her, and it seems she wanted to do the same for other Pokemon even if he would rather just keep pressing forward and surviving on their own together.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and tied off a bandage on the Numel's leg. "Well, we can't venture out into this snowstorm like this so I guess we're down for the night, especially with our newest companion here as weakened as they are. Our best option is to take a look in this cave and see if anyone's left anything behind I doubt there's much but we need as much as we can get." He looked at the two pokemon and shook his head softly with a sigh "...Bonnie, stay here and make sure they're alright, I'm going in to see what there is. If the storm clears while I'm gone, just stay put and don't go anywhere. Understand?" She made a motion to argue but hearing Numel moan in exhaustion and hunger, she nodded and began to tend to her new friends wounds and hunger as Cain turned away and began to make his way into the caves.


	3. Like a Sableye in the Dark

Chapter 3  
Like a Sableye in the Dark.

The distant sound of water dripping off of stalactites and the chittering of pokemon echoed around him, the only signs of life in the dark aside from his boots striking stone as he ventured deeper, time felt as if it had no meaning as he wandered through the darkness trying to keep steady footing as the light around him grew dimmer and dimmer as he went further.

The chill air made him shiver and lose focus for a moment causing him to trip and tumble crying out in pain as he fell down the side of a small cliff and landed after a couple bounces at the bottom, he groaned in pain but pushed himself to stand up. The first thing he noticed as he stood up was that the caves had gone silent save for the echoes of his shout of pain "Probably scared off anything nearby at least.." He thought to himself as he started off again, opting to keep moving before something more hungry than scared decided to investigate what made that noise. He felt however that something was watching him but pushed these feelings away, telling himself it was just his paranoia, soon coming across an old discarded pack, it was torn up and filthy but contained a few old supplies "Rope..a box? No, a light, I can only hope its still working.." His gloved fingers moved over the small box light and found the rugged switch on the side of its filthy surface, with a deep breath he pushed it and was taken aback as the light shone to life and lit up the area around him, he exhaled deeply and hooked the light onto his jacket before digging through the rest of the pack, finding a cracked compass and a child's coat, he stopped for a moment as he held the coat in his hands but shoved everything back into the pack before grabbing it and getting back to delving deeper into the cave as he tried to keep the thoughts away of what happened to the backpacks original owner.

After a while Cain began to feel exhausted, trekking through the caverns was taking a toll on him after trudging through the snow to rescue his Pokemon, he couldn't help but wonder how they were holding up without him, he was shaken from his thoughts as he thought that he heard a voice echoing up from the depths of the caves. Quietly he made his way toward them, sliding his hunting knife out from its sheath as he slowed his breathing and crept slowly along, his mouth felt dry as he walked, the feeling of eyes on him growing even stronger as he neared the voice and it became clearer

"...Don't know why you wouldn't listen ta me...it wasn't a difficult order…it didn't have to go this way." the voice said to seemingly no one in particular, they sounded much older than him, his arm and legs felt like they were on fire, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as he approached before something struck him in the back of the head hard, sending him the ground even harder and making his knife go flying with a loud clatter that echoed into the caves "What was that!? Who's out there!?" the older man shouted, the last thing Cain saw before his vision faded was a set of beautiful gems glittering in the darkness before a wide smile seemed to spread and glow as blackness set in and he blacked out.

"Father? Is today the day?" The voice of a young boy echoed from the darkness, murky, distant, but all around was warm, familiar "Yes, yes son, today you start your journey as a pokemon trainer." The voice of an older man said before another voice spoke up "Hurry up now, the Professor is waiting for you!" This voice was one of a woman, it all felt so far away and yet it resonated with him, he couldn't shake the idea that he knew these voices, and before him was the scene of a house beautiful in its design before the scene shifted, a pokemon lab, a well worn path, three pokeballs, a young man's arm reached out and took one before the scene shifted again and now he stood in a field, a trainer at the far end mangled, tossed to the ground the grass set ablaze, nearby vicious roars were ripping through the air making his gut feel twisted, he looked down and saw a pool of blood underneath himself and fear washed over him as he tried to understand what was happen-

A heavy hand smacked Cain across the face, nearly knocking him over before another heavy slap, he was struck awake from whatever vicious nightmare that was trying to claim him, the scent of beer and old cigarettes felt like it was assaulting his nostrils before he realized that he couldn't move even as blood trickled from his nose and split lip, when his eyes adjusted to the light he looked up at an older man with stark white hair who was glaring down at him before raising Cain's hunting knife to his throat "Answer my questions and I might not cut your other arm off to match this one." The older man pointed to the prosthetic lying on a table nearby, Cain began to struggle against the ropes but was met with a punch to the gut this time that knocked the wind out of him "Stop fuckin' struggling! Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you doing here?" The old man barked questions, barely giving a moment to catch his breath before raising up to strike him again "Urg..wait! Fuckin...wait a minute...Arceus damn it..My name is Cain...I'm just trying to pass through here to get to the other side of the mountains…" The old man lowered his fist and stabbed the knife into the table beside the prosthetic and grabbed Cain by the hair pulling his head up painfully "You best not be lying to me. From the looks of you you're a trainer but you've got no balls. Heh, none that matter anyway. So I'll ask you again "Cain" Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you doing here? Ain't nobody in their right mind survives out here without at least one pokemon by their side. So then that begs the question, th'fuck is yours at? Heh.. and where the fuk't yer arm go? Seems like the two could go...hand in hand" The old man let out a thick choking laugh, the stench of cigarettes billowing from his throat as if the ashes were sitting in his fat gut.

Cain glared at the man, he had no right to ask him those questions, no right to pry into his past, he glared at the man before gathering up a nice glob of spit and shooting it straight into his disgusting mouth, the old man retaliated instantly and sent Cain and his chair falling to the ground as he had a fist smashed into his face "That's where my pokemon is you old fat fuck!" Cain shouted at him through the pain before spitting out a tooth and licking at his now bleeding gums, the old man stomped over and forced his chair upright and got in his face "You best stop jerkin' me around boy before I see just how sharp this here knife is. You wanna keep testing my patience you'll learn right quick how short that fuse is. Now answer my goddamn questions." Cain was shoved to the ground again, barely in the light coming from the flashlight, he groaned and spat some blood on the floor "My pokemon is dead. 10 years gone. You happy now?" His chair was lifted again, dragged over to the table and shoved forward, jostling the arm on the surface "How'd they die, and how'd you get this arm." The old man asked in a gruff voice "I got my arm blown off in a pokemon battle. Lost my pokemon in the same fight." The old man growled at the pulling teeth method of getting information out but held off from striking Cain again. "Ugh. Ten years ago I was battling another trainer, I felt like I had the upper hand before we dodged one of their moves. Lucky for me neither of us got hit, unlucky for me a Tyranitar was sleeping in the forest behind us and did not take kindly to being woken up like that, when they heard the sound of us battling and making noise...well before either of us knew what was happening a hyper beam tore through the trees and...everything was a blur after that..A white hot flash, pool of blood, screaming...I remember the kids body...his eyes were still open..it happened so fast...my Combusken tried to protect me but he was no match for this thing...Officer Jenny showed up and scared it away but...Nurse Joy couldn't…" Cain stopped speaking, his teeth clenched so hard he feared they might crack as blood and tears streamed down his face, forced to recall the memories, the pain, the fear... The old man just stood listening before stepping away and rummaging through a ratty old tent that he seemed to be living out of. "I didn't tell you to stop. Keep going. Tell me about the arm." Cain glared at him hatefully as he struggled again to get free from the chair "Why the fuck do you care so goddamn much about my arm!? Just let me go you fucking psychopath!" Cain snapped at him, struggling hard even as the ropes dug into him and the chair tipped over again sending him to the ground hard as he coughed and thrashed fruitlessly "Tell me about the arm." The old man kept on, hounding him about the arm, the arm, the bloody arm "I barely survived with my life! My pokemon died to save me, that trainer died because of a stupid fucking mistake!" Cain was sobbing now, screaming in a frustrated rage and wanting to vomit as memories vividly flashed in his mind.

Beyond his yelling he heard the resounding sound of a crack of something being struck, he feared someone or something else had been struck by whatever hit him before a thud sounded, he struggled to move to see what it was but he heard the old man "What the fuck? Gem? Get your lazy ass up off the ground the fuck you think you're doing? You're supposed to be guarding the entrance!" He yelled at something that made the sound before another voice spoke up "Cu...bone!" A familiar voice cried out "Some scrawny little beat to fuck Cubone took you out? You worthless little.." Cain heard the sound of his knife being wrenched from the table, his heart began to pound in his ears as he struggled harder now trying to break the ropes to get free to protect Bonnie but the old man took notice of his increased efforts and began to sadistically laugh "Oh is that how it is? You did lie to me. Well then, I guess I'm gonna enjoy guttin that scrawny little-" The next thing he heard was the sounds of fighting, blows landing, bones cracking, heavy thuds and lots of scuffling, it felt like it went on for hours but it may have only been a few minutes until everything went quiet.

Cain gulped hard as he heard footsteps approaching, a shadow stretched along the ground as it entered the area, he feared the worst for himself and for his pokemon. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and felt his chair being slowly sat back upright before his bindings were untied, he opened his eyes and looked around trying to see what was happening. On the ground before him was a dazed Sableye, the side of its head bleeding heavily and one of its gem like eyes cracked, he looked beside himself expecting to see Bonnie pulling at his ropes but instead he found an intense looking Marowak staring at him as it pulled at his ropes, the skull on its head was damaged at the eye, broken apart as if from a strong attack, three claw marks marring its face and showing the milky white eye that peered from under the skull "..Bonnie..?" Cain said before the Marowak gave him a nod and he hugged them tightly "Marrow!" Bonnie cried out before he stood up and stepped back seeing her new wounds.

Deep cuts marked her flesh in various places showing damage from her fight with his captive "I thought I told you to stay behind with Numel...where is he?" As Cain asked this the dopey expression of Numel came from over the ledge and looked down to where Cain was standing, the hole in his back giving off a light, Cain smiled at them both softly before looking back to Bonnie "And the guy?" Bonnie held up her now duel headed bone club, one end dripping with a bit of blood "Dead?" She shook her head and pointed up toward Numel who wandered off before returning with the old man and dropping him back down to the small area that he was living in "Old bastard.." Cain said as he kicked him in the ribs hard before stepping over him and looking at the Sableye, he pulled his hunting knife out and knelt down before quickly dispatching it, carving out its gems, and crushing the pokeball the old man kept on his hip.

He breathed shakily and wiped the blood and tears from his face "Help me search him for anything we may need, take his clothes, grab the backpack." Bonnie nodded solemnly and got to work stripping him of his clothing and supply of dried Zubat jerky, midway through the old man began to protest before Cain pressed his boot to his throat the old man looked fearful, now that the tables were so thoroughly turned "What are you going to do to me? I'm an important person you know! If you take me with you to the other side of the mountain I can help you. I can get you clothes, money, women, men? Anything you want, just let me up." Cain thought for a moment before taking his boot from the man's throat, he coughed and got his breath back before starting to stand up "Glad you saw things my way kid.. You and this filthy excuse for a Marowak, I could get you a fresh one, one that's not so disfigured. D'you gouge out that eye yourself? These damned animals need to be taught obedience, they need to be taught to obey their masters, don't you agree?." Cain smirked at him before shoving him hard into his ratty old tent, the old man thrashed around getting himself caught up in the torn nylon "Hey! What the fuck do you think you're doing!?" Cain stared at the thrashing old man before looking up to Numel "You have a point. But I think my pokemon are obedient enough without training. Hey, Numel, use ember." Numel didn't hesitate for a moment before launching burning hot embers all over the side of the tent, causing it to catch fire like a box of matches, the old man's screams echoing through the caves.

Cain put his arm back on, grabbed whatever Bonnie couldn't carry, and tore up the man's clothes to use as bandages for her wounds before beginning to climb back up the ledge and heading back out toward the entrance, the flashlight and compass guiding them along the way until they reached the entrance of the caves and found that the snowstorm had died down over the hours that he was trapped by that madman.

Once back at the entrance he knelt down and took the child sized coat from the backpack and carefully put it on Bonnie before zipping it up and grabbing his old pack from where he had left it "Perfect fit." Cain said before giving her skully head a gentle pat. "We've still got a long way to go, it'd be nice to be able to rest here tonight but we don't know when another storm will roll in on top of us, I'd rather be moving along by then." Cain looked to the Numel who seemed to have regained some of their strength thanks to Bonnie's nursing him to health "Numel, think you're up for lugging us across the mountain?" The dopey pokemon looked to him then to Bonnie before nodding, Cain nodded a bit and helped Bonnie up onto Numel's back before climbing on behind her and setting off through the snow covered mountains.

Hours passed as they trudged through the snow, the heat from Numel's body keeping them warm against the chill winds as they climbed the mountains, getting a good view along the mountain range that kept them from their destination, soon the sun began setting in the distance "Tsk.. Numel, start looking for a cave or something, we're gonna need to bed down for the night." Numel nodded and began to wander for a few minutes with his passengers before finding a shallow cave to take them into before stopping and shaking off some snow, Cain stepped down with Bonnie and set up camp for the night.

The next few days passed without incident and soon they reached the broad side of the mountain, looking down over the lands they had worked so hard to reach, the lands that birthed him. "If we push through all this, we should be able to make it before nightfall." Cain motioned along a path "Then if we're lucky we can stop in at that town and try to warm up and get a meal in our bellies. But when have we ever been lucky?" He asked pessimistically as he looked to his companion who rolled her eyes and hitched up her backpack "Maro. Marowak." She said as she motioned with her bone club to a different path "That way? Looks a bit more dangerous but it could cut down our travel time, Numel, you up for it?" Numel had his face buried in snow until his name was said, he lifted his head and looked at Cain "...yea he's up for it."

The two mounted up on Numel and began to make their way toward the side of the mountain but Numel seemed hesitant to begin crossing the path and kept looking over the edge "Hey, eyes forward, just stick it out and don't think about the height." Numel still looked scared but kept pressing forward, kicking small stones under the snow and trudging along as Cain pet his head trying to keep him calm and focused but as they were crossing a large impact shook the mountain around and caused Numel to fearfully cower in place, Cain quickly looked around to ensure they weren't about to get hit by an avalanche and try to determine the source of the impact, in the distance he saw thick black smoke beginning to rise "Arceus.. Seems like someone crashed out here but what could have shaken the mountain like that?" Cain whistled and patted Numel "Come on, let's get moving." Bonnie tugged at his sleeve a bit and motioned toward the smoke looking worried "If we want to get off this mountain we don't have time to stop. Especially not for people." Her expression turned from worry to anger and lightly smacked him with her club before pointing again to the rising smoke more forcefully this time "Ow hey! You don't know people like I do. It's not worth it." She looked at him angrily again with a hint of hurt in her eyes before hopping off of Numels back and pointing to him, herself, then him again. Cain sighed "You have a point..Fine. We'll go help them." He offered his hand and she got on Numels back again "Let's go, we gotta hurry if we're gonna get down to them." Numel turned back with a dopy look before Bonnie produced the some of her rations and fed them to him, content with his "fee" Numel took off, nearly losing his passengers as he spit embers over the snow ahead of them clearing the path as he trots along.

Soon they arrived upon the crash site, smoke billowing from the wreckage of what appeared to be a helicopter, the blades were crumpled and the cockpit smashed, the entire vehicle was overturned and buried in the snow. Numel rushed toward it, skidding along the snowy incline as Cain and Bonnie leapt off to run down to see if there was any survivors, the smell of gasoline and the sound of sparking wires was at the forefront of his senses "Bonnie help me search!" He moved quickly to look in the overturned helicopter, inside he saw the body of the pilot strapped in his seat and began to hear movement from the body of the helicopter "Hey! Is someone alive in there?" Cain shouted and started banging on the side of the chopper, trying to get the attention of whoever was inside, he heard more movement before the sound of screaming "Help! Somebody get us out of here!" He heard the voices and climbed up onto the helicopter, Bonnie jumped up beside him and looked in before looking to him for instructions "Shit.. umm fuck alright we gotta get this door open but the fucking thing is crunched to hell.. I don't think we can just drag the thing open. Numel, come here we need you!" Numel came trotting along through the snow before the two of them leapt down and looked at the wreckage, Cain let out a frustrated sigh "Alright, I've got an idea." He said before pulling out all the rope that he had on him from both backpacks before tying them to the door of the chopper and tying the other ends to Numel "Alright, both of you focus up and let's try to get this thing off." They nodded and both quickly got to work pulling at the ropes, Cain listened as the metal groaned from their efforts but the door was barely budging an inch, the voice inside shouted "It's filling up with smoke in here!"

Cain groaned frustratedly and began pulling at the door as well but his strength barely helped "Fuck were not strong enough to get this thing open, I don't know how much longer we have till.." The scent of gasoline was growing stronger and he knew that time was running out "Numel, Bonnie, you guys gotta pull harder we're running out of time!" Bonnie looked scared and worried and dug her feet in, trying to pull harder, Numel looked back at Cain and saw the worried and frustrated look on his face and shook his head, a look of determination washing over his dopey face before the volcanic mound on his back began to glow hotter and brighter his body giving off a massively bright light before a loud roar cut through the cold snowy air "Camerupt!" The great beast of a pokemon bellowed determinedly before he took hold of the ropes again and snorted before charging, his black fur bristling fiercely against the snowy winds as thick smoke billowed from his volcano's joining the smoke from the crash, his massive force bending then tearing the door off of the helicopter nearly hitting Cain and Bonnie as he triumphantly bellowed once again and Cain quickly got to work getting into the chopper and using his knife to cut the straps to free the trapped passengers and their pokemon before the chopper was engulfed in flames as the sparks landed in the gas, igniting it as Cain was getting the last person free. He screamed in pain as the flames ignited the rest of the gasoline suddenly and explosively, sending him flying into a snowbank. Bonnie rushed over to Cain, the flames silhouetting her as his vision went dark, the last thing he saw was Bonnie standing over him looking fearful and pale.


End file.
